Genetically Modified, Caffeine-Free Coffee

pyrrho writes: "Coffee, Genetic Modifications... perfect for Slashdot. Kona Coffee Growers want to ban GM Coffee from the "Big Island". If you think your are for GM coffee... keep in mind they are trying to grow a type of coffee without caffeine! So, think again(tm). It might be different if they were trying to double the caffeine."

Comments

Preserving consumer choice

[sting3r]

One need to look no father than the GMO debate to see what an authoritarian society we live in. No longer is free enterprise a basic right of a producer; indeed, the government tends to want to ban anything it doesn't understand or doesn't consider to be "savory." What we need the most on this issue is a little common sense: live and let live. The government has no business regulating genetically modified coffee until it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be a threat to public safety. Likewise, forcing manufacturers of such products to disclose against their will the secret processes involved in the creation of their products is a ridiculous intrusion on their First Amendment rights (yes, that includes the right not to speak - see the Florida citrus growers' lawsuit for precedent). Producers should be free to label their products as they see fit, provided that they do not make inaccurate or unprovable claims.

It is unfortunate that the zealots in the population choose to encourage the passage of laws that ban provably safe activities, such as genetic food modification and nuclear power. Indeed, these people need to find a way to make their own lives sufficiently interesting that they won't have time to try to ruin everybody else's.